I was supposed to be at the National Equality March in DC today, where tens of thousands of our fellow Americans are standing up for the right to marry, to housing equality, and to employment security. Circumstances interfered with my attendance, but I think that those of us who are NOT there should take a moment and show our support here in the DailyKos community.
This is the central civil rights struggle of our era. As progressives, it is up to all of us to get behind the cause not just today, but every day - in our homes, in our cities, in our states, on this blog. Our country was founded upon the principles of liberty and equality. That means for everyone. That means me. That means our friends who stand in Washington right now...
There are two money quotes so far: "It's about repealing DOMA, stupid!" and "Love is worth it!"
Cynthia Nixon, the openly gay co-star of Sex and the City, gave an extraordinarily eloquent speech in which she pointed out that there are 1100 FEDERAL rights conferred by the use of the word "marriage." You can legalize marriage in every, single state of the union and the battle is not finished. Freedom's next battle BEGINS in Washington, with the repeal of the bigoted, short-sighted, and "ridiculously named" "Defense of Marriage Act." It begins with all of us contacting our senators, our congresspeople, and our President and voicing in no uncertain terms our expectation that each and every one of them stand on the right side of history, seize the moment, and repeal this abomination. Way to go Ms. Nixon! You made Broadway proud!
Another speaker, Lt. Dan Choi, was booted from the service for being a gay man. He delivered a moving, beautiful speech in which he declared that there are many things worth fighting for - and he's fought for a lot of them - but of all those things, "Love is worth it!" He led the crowd in a chant, reminding us all that this is about something simple, worthy, and eternal: love. "Love is worth it!"
In 1969, forty years ago, the revolution began in the streets outside the Stonewall - a bar I know and love, right in the heart of New York City's West Village. It proceeded through four decades of incremental change - freedom for gays to assemble, the declaration of anti-gay sodomy laws to be unconstitutional.
As speaker after speaker has noted today, we ARE free. As a people, we are guaranteed rights. Nobody has a right to deny our freedoms. No law that creates one set of rights for one group of Americans and another set of rights for another group of Americans has any validity. Let's phrase that another way - DOMA is not a valid law. No argument in its defense is valid. The time to repeal it isn't some rainbow-tinted imaginary future, it's NOW.
Read more about it via MSNBC or tune in to watch it on CNN or CSPAN!
Take a moment right now and do something to show your support. Send out a Tweet, shoot an email to your representative, write a note to the President. Take that time, seize this day, and use this energy to make your contribution to this worthy cause!
"LOVE IS WORTH IT!"
UPDATE: Please also check out tazzz's diary here for powerful video from the event. You can also see how accurate my memory of some of these speeches are, ha!
UPDATE II: Check it out live on CNN, link courtesy of kitty! http://www.cnn.com/...